Jamie Carragher has heavily criticised Mathys Tel after the young Tottenham forward’s costly mistake helped Leeds United secure a dramatic 1-1 draw on Monday night.
Tel looked set to be Spurs’ hero after firing home a brilliant opener at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, the momentum quickly shifted when the attacker attempted an overhead clearance inside his own penalty area and caught Ethan Ampadu with a high boot.
After a VAR review, Leeds were awarded a penalty and Dominic Calvert-Lewin made no mistake from the spot to rescue a crucial point for the visitors.
As a result, Tottenham remain dangerously close to the relegation zone, sitting just two points above 18th-placed West Ham with only two games left to play.
Reacting on Monday Night Football, Carragher did not hold back in his assessment of Tel’s decision-making.
“It’s just a crazy decision from Tel,” Carragher said.
“What you think sometimes is we’ve been there sometimes as players where you don’t see the opposition player coming in.
“But he’s about to make his decision and he sees him, he looks. So he’s made his decision but as soon as he knows there’s someone there, it has to change.
“He still has time, he’s got to change his mind. I thought he hadn’t seen him initially, but he has. It’s a really, really poor decision.”
Carragher also pointed to another questionable moment from the youngster earlier in the game, although he acknowledged Tel’s growing influence in Tottenham’s survival fight.
“We’re talking about a young attacking player, making two ridiculous decisions in this game.
“De Zerbi will be furious – but he’s got to remember he’s a young attacking player who has actually made a massive difference to Spurs right now.
“He came off the bench at Wolves, got the corner and the winning goal. He set up the second goal at Villa, and he scored the goal tonight.
“He needs him, because they haven’t got players with injuries but there’s a player there. We’ve seen that in the last couple of games.
“You’d be going nuts, but the good at the other end – everything we showed that was good from Spurs in the first half, and then he scored the goal in the second half.
“That’s the art of management, and De Zerbi knows that a lot better than me.”
With survival still hanging in the balance, Spurs will now hope Tel can bounce back quickly as the pressure intensifies in the closing weeks of the season.
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